My Path to the Archives

Paige Kinzer, Assistant Archivist, Archdiocese of Cincinnati

My path to archives was a long one. It was nothing I ever imagined myself doing; probably because I did not even know it was a profession until about six years ago. We crossed paths unexpectedly. Originally, when I entered Marshall University as an undergraduate in 2012, my heart was set on criminal and crime scene investigation. To satisfy my core curriculum requirements, I began taking basic level history classes. Turned out, I loved history and I had just never realized it. I mean, growing up I always enjoyed going to museums and watching programs on the History Channel, but I never really thought of that as something you could do for work.

When I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and psychology, I decided, much to the dismay of my family, to pursue something I actually enjoyed – history. So, in 2017, I was once again a student at Marshall but this time as a graduate student. The history department at Marshall is not big in any sense, but this allowed for smaller class sizes and personable relationships with professors and other students. During my first semester as a graduate student, I happened across a class called Introduction to Archives. Over the course of the semester, we were responsible for processing and organizing our own collections as part of the Marshall University Archives. The teaching assistant at the time was also a graduate student in an MLIS program at another school, and this is where I was first introduced to library science. By the end of the semester, I was hooked. Getting to hold these historical documents in my hands and being responsible for their preservation and upkeep was exactly what I wanted to do. As a kid, going to museums, I always wanted to be able to touch the artifacts behind the glass and here I was finally able to do that. So, when the semester ended, I enquired about an internship within the university archives for credit. After getting the green light, I spent the summer in the depths of the archives going through their backlog and prioritizing what needed to be processed and accessioned into their collection. At the end of my internship, I even got to design and set up my own small exhibit from the collection materials I had gone through. I ended up making my own JFK presidential campaign exhibit. By the time I graduated with my master’s in 2019, library science had left my thoughts as I was forced to focus more on research prior to graduation. Thus, my mind went back to simply thinking that I would just try to get a job in a museum. Well, that was a mistake. It did not take me long to learn that archives, libraries, and museums were a small, tightknit community, and history was just not going to cut it on its own. It was during this time, right as my graduation was approaching, that my husband was relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio for his job. Even here, especially moving right before the COVID pandemic, museum and history jobs were scarce. Then it was like the light bulb went off in my brain and I remembered that conversation with the teaching assistant about library science and archives. I had enjoyed the class and internship, so why shouldn’t I put more effort into these interests? I began looking into online library science programs so I would be able to work full time while still attend classes. I would like to circle back around and say that that psychology degree was not a complete waste because at this point I had been working in the mental health field for almost six years. This field can hold crazy hours, so having a flexible class schedule was going to be necessary.

January 2022, I was accepted into the MLIS program at the University of Kentucky, and I was so excited to continue my education and become one step closer to achieving my career goals. After looking over the course catalog, I became a little discouraged that there was only one elective class on archives in the program but I decided to give it a fair chance. Three semesters in, this is still a problem I have with the program. Everything is focused on public and academic libraries rather than special collections libraries, archives, museums, law, or medical libraries. I quickly began looking for local archives’ internships and volunteer opportunities. When I had first moved to Cincinnati, prior to the COVID shutdown, I had shown interest in the Cincinnati Museum Center, more for the history aspect at that time, but now that they were open again and accepting new volunteers, I decided to put in my application. Once they saw I was interested in archives, and was in the process of getting my degree, they reached out saying that they were interested in having me come in. Weeks went by, then those weeks turned to months, and I still hadn’t heard anything else. Finally, I got the call that the Geier Collections and Research Center, the archives for the Cincinnati Museum Center, was looking for a volunteer to assist in their manuscript collection. Now was my chance. My first day, I felt like I was finally where I belonged. I spent the next few months coming in for a few hours after work, and any other time I could fit in around my full-time job and school. Here, I jumped right into processing collections and doing research to create finding aids. They had a large part of their collection that needed to be rehoused in acid free folders and boxes. It was great. Fast forward to 2023, I am still working in the hospital, trying to squeeze in as many volunteer hours as possible to get all the experience that I can. My nightly activities during this time included scrolling through Indeed.com to see what job openings there were in nearby museums and libraries. I knew I wasn’t finished with my degree yet, but I was eager to keep my eye out. It was during one of these nightly searches, that on a whim, I applied for an opening at the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Archives as an Archives Assistant. To my surprise, I was invited in for an interview and a few weeks later I was offered the job. I was on cloud nine! I could not believe it, especially before I had my degree in hand. But here I was, given the chance to finally get real-life work experience. I spend my days, mostly, processing collections. Which is great; it’s something (continued on page 10)

I’ve learned that I love to do. But this position has also given me the opportunity to gain skills in new areas such as research and genealogy requests. Turns out, I really enjoy these as well. I love being given the task of trying to find something, no matter how obscure. I could not be happier to finally have gotten my foot in the door in the archives/library community, and I cannot wait to see what larger projects are in store for me here and am grateful that I am able to learn and gain valuable experience from this opportunity.

I am glad to be here and am excited to be able to attend any conferences and professional trainings I can to continue to grow and learn new skills, and to see what the future holds for me in this field!